Speaker 1: Right justin middle of the field forty five fifteen. Bring
Speaker 1: Russ in front of a leading Lions in this way.
Speaker 1: I am Jeff Jonahacklitsu on dot up.
Speaker 2: What was like playing for coach Gooddom.
Speaker 3: I don't want to answer any questions like that.
Speaker 4: Sixty one yards? What's Sunday strow for?
Speaker 1: Justin field? Ye Bears et Cetera With the voices of
Speaker 1: the Chicago Bears Jeff Joniac, We're off to La Sofi
Speaker 1: Stadium with the Bears. Visit the two and four La
Speaker 1: Charges Sunday Night Football with Super Bowl winning Bears Guard
Speaker 1: Town Player. I'm Jeff Jonahack, and welcome into episode twenty
Speaker 1: eight of the Bears et Cetera podcast. Good to be
Speaker 1: with you each and every Tuesday and Thursday of the
Speaker 1: regular season. We always have a special guest or try
Speaker 1: to today. Tommy lurd In a good one he put
Speaker 1: He put out the APB for Pro Football Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame quarterback the San Diego Charger Great Dan Fouts. A
Speaker 1: wonderful interview with him. We love dipping in the past,
Speaker 1: don't we kind of explained the present?
Speaker 5: Well?
Speaker 6: You said it perfectly introduced a lot of the listeners
Speaker 6: to the past so they can get more introduced to
Speaker 6: the present. And when you talk about Dan Fouts and
Speaker 6: his experience in the NFL and the development of passing
Speaker 6: offenses with a lot of it what we see today.
Speaker 3: He played for some remarkable coaches.
Speaker 6: And even though he had a slow start to his career,
Speaker 6: it had a remarkable ending which concluded into the Pro
Speaker 6: Football Hall of Fame. Then he went onto the broadcasting
Speaker 6: business and I knew a couple of the offensive linemen
Speaker 6: that he played for, and they talk about his toughness,
Speaker 6: his dedication, his desire to be great, and it's been proven.
Speaker 1: Yeah, So we'll enjoy that conversation coming up. First, let's
Speaker 1: get the status at hallis a couple of things. Injury wise,
Speaker 1: there is no change in justin fields right now issue
Speaker 1: and they're getting to it. Nate Davis did not practice,
Speaker 1: Jakwon Brisker Ill did not practice. Treuelle Smith working through
Speaker 1: mono no practice, no practice for Donna right now, I
Speaker 1: want to pick up the conversation here because going back
Speaker 1: over the tape watching him that shoulder, it was bothering him.
Speaker 1: Did you did you notice how he gutted it out?
Speaker 1: He at times barely used his left shoulder trying to
Speaker 1: block Max Crosby. What did you think of that performance
Speaker 1: by Darnell? Not one hundred percent.
Speaker 6: You know, it's inspirational when a young guy has such
Speaker 6: high desire to be on the field with his teammates
Speaker 6: that he's willing to play at less than one hundred percent.
Speaker 6: But I think you're going to have to go back
Speaker 6: and take out what shoulder was bothering so the enemy
Speaker 6: doesn't listen to this, and then you know it going
Speaker 6: forward we watch the tape, but you know, Jeff, there
Speaker 6: was a lot of times during the broadcast that you
Speaker 6: looked at me with the headset off, saying, hey, look
Speaker 6: at Darnell.
Speaker 3: He's really rotating his shoulder.
Speaker 6: And then he had a play that he got fell
Speaker 6: on and it kind of looked like his you know,
Speaker 6: his lower leg some portion was bothering him a little.
Speaker 3: But he worked through it. And I think whenever.
Speaker 6: You get into this stage of the season, probably all
Speaker 6: the way to the end of the year, you're going
Speaker 6: to be less than one hundred per But again, he
Speaker 6: went out there and played a winning game.
Speaker 1: Well, it looks like it's a toe. Toe that's also
Speaker 1: on the injury report, so shoulder in toe for right
Speaker 1: Dan Feenie limited with an e Eddie Jackson limited Braxton Jones.
Speaker 1: The clock starts Tom the left tackle as a twenty
Speaker 1: one day window to see if he can get back
Speaker 1: from a neck injury. Limited today. Where do you look
Speaker 1: at that situation with an injury like that in that window?
Speaker 1: Could he come back sooner than that? Can he come
Speaker 1: back this week?
Speaker 4: Yeah?
Speaker 6: You know, well, I think he could, depending upon the
Speaker 6: severity of the injury. And I went through a pup
Speaker 6: list to start a season when I had my back surgery.
Speaker 6: And there's a couple of proving points that you want
Speaker 6: to make to yourself rather than make them to your
Speaker 6: teammates or your coach, going, Okay, I'm ready for hard impacts.
Speaker 6: I can absorb big hits from linebackers. I can make
Speaker 6: executed blocks downfield if I have to leave my feet.
Speaker 6: Then as soon as you do a couple of those things,
Speaker 6: then all of a sudden that we all becomes second nature.
Speaker 6: So having recover bring from back surgery or a neck injury,
Speaker 6: they're both sensitive areas of the body. So I think
Speaker 6: once Braxton proves to himself he's ready to go, then
Speaker 6: he'll be ready to go.
Speaker 1: Good new Chicago United Airlines is getting brand new planes
Speaker 1: with all the bells and whistles, like Bluetooth connectivity screens
Speaker 1: at every seat and room. From Everyone's Rollerbag United Proud
Speaker 1: to fly the Chicago Bears and you too Jeff Jonieck
Speaker 1: and Tom Thayer on the Bears et Ce podcast. Tyson
Speaker 1: Beaijing went to the podium today, this time as an
Speaker 1: experienced starting quarterback by virtue of his first game. The
Speaker 1: reviews have been impressive. The comments also resonating from players
Speaker 1: miked up Cole Comet Lucas Patrick were micd up for
Speaker 1: Inside the NFL. Those came to light heard also from
Speaker 1: Marcedes Lewis. And now it's a bigger stage. He goes
Speaker 1: to La to take on the Chargers with Kylail Mack
Speaker 1: and Joey Bosa and the Gang, a defense that is struggling,
Speaker 1: albeit but it's going to be a lot more attention
Speaker 1: on Tyson Beagin. How do you think he'll handle it.
Speaker 6: I think he's gonna handle it well. I don't think
Speaker 6: any stage is too big for him. However, this is
Speaker 6: the one and only national televised Sunday night game where
Speaker 6: the world of football will be watching. When you talk
Speaker 6: about him having a home game against the Raiders, it
Speaker 6: only shows in the portion of the country. But now
Speaker 6: you're having that game that everybody's going to see. You're
Speaker 6: going to have young players from smaller colleges that are
Speaker 6: going to be watching Tyson Basing with interest and give
Speaker 6: them the self confidence that they belong and they can
Speaker 6: make it.
Speaker 3: And then you're going to see other young quarterbacks.
Speaker 6: Around the league that maybe have been picked much higher
Speaker 6: than him to saying, Okay, what is this guy seeing,
Speaker 6: how is he preparing, What is he doing to give
Speaker 6: him this successful of an opportunity so early in his career.
Speaker 1: Here's Beijing from the podium on Wednesday. N If he's
Speaker 1: less nervous.
Speaker 2: This week, I have the same nerves every week since
Speaker 2: I've been playing football. Just usually I'm just nerved up
Speaker 2: throughout the week, unless we're in practice or unless until
Speaker 2: we get to the pregame. You know, time I'm on
Speaker 2: the field, good that we I don't feel it, but
Speaker 2: you know when you're in the room thinking about it,
Speaker 2: studying it, I am nerved up in those moments, but
Speaker 2: at stays pretty consistent no matter what.
Speaker 1: As we are nervous preparation. You know, are you ready
Speaker 1: for your game mentally? And I think that's probably what
Speaker 1: he what he refers to.
Speaker 6: You know, Listen, I watched Jay Hilgenberg throw up before
Speaker 6: every game, and he's a seven time pro bowler, and
Speaker 6: that was even late into his career. When you're a
Speaker 6: football player and you're driving up to whatever stadium you're
Speaker 6: playing in, whether by bus or by your own car,
Speaker 6: there's a certain nervousness that's in the pit of your stomach,
Speaker 6: and it's going to last until you get your second win,
Speaker 6: and then you get into the flow.
Speaker 3: Of the game.
Speaker 6: So it's it's nothing, it's something that's never going to
Speaker 6: leave him. It's just part of the game. But you know,
Speaker 6: I think Tyson was raised around a father that had
Speaker 6: a lot of notoriety and experience and camera lights and action,
Speaker 6: and you kind of get used to seeing that from
Speaker 6: from afar, from somebody you're really close to.
Speaker 1: And no question, that makes total sense. It's not that
Speaker 1: far away from a major metropolitan city. Even though you think, oh,
Speaker 1: he's a country kid or whatever, No, that's not the case.
Speaker 1: The Potomac River ran right through the back of Shepherd
Speaker 1: University or whatever, and he was out there using it
Speaker 1: as a cold tub with his buddies. I mean, it's
Speaker 1: crazy stories of how he prepared for each football season
Speaker 1: by virtue of his dad's influence as well. And speaking
Speaker 1: of that, I don't know if you heard this or not,
Speaker 1: but somebody from West Virginia, a reporter contacted Beigent last
Speaker 1: night and he in his research, he is the first
Speaker 1: West Virginia born and raised quarterback to start a National
Speaker 1: Football League game.
Speaker 2: Yeah, for me, it's wild to think about. You just
Speaker 2: think about, you know how long the NFL has been,
Speaker 2: you know how long they've been playing in the NFL.
Speaker 2: How many people have gone through the NFL. So when
Speaker 2: there's still when they're still when you can still be
Speaker 2: the first to do something in this league that's been
Speaker 2: around so long and had so many people come through it,
Speaker 2: it's definitely an honor in something that's really crazy to
Speaker 2: think about.
Speaker 6: You know that he congratulated him even more. You know,
Speaker 6: he's not a guy that grew up on green acres
Speaker 6: where he's climbing a telephone pole to make a phone call.
Speaker 6: It's just the fact that he's from a small school
Speaker 6: and he's got a ton of belief in himself, ton
Speaker 6: of belief in his development and that his experience, no
Speaker 6: matter how small the school it was, it's relatable to
Speaker 6: developing into an NFL quarterback. We'll see where it goes
Speaker 6: from here. You know, we're not placing the crown on
Speaker 6: his head yet. However, the early indicators are that he
Speaker 6: has an asset to this football team all right.
Speaker 1: Now, the other big question, I think people are thinking
Speaker 1: that he has not enough arm strength to push the
Speaker 1: ball down the field, and he pushed back on that today. Granted,
Speaker 1: the game plan was horizontal, it was a short passing game.
Speaker 1: It was the little toss to Deontay Foreman, it was
Speaker 1: the I sweeps, it was everything inside a twenty yards,
Speaker 1: nothing beyond twenty yards. That doesn't mean he can't do it.
Speaker 1: He did take with the Raiders defense allowed to take.
Speaker 1: Now we expect something different from a more pressure oriented
Speaker 1: defense like the Chargers on Sunday. Should these questions be
Speaker 1: asked of Beijing regarding his arm just because of that
Speaker 1: one performance?
Speaker 6: You know, I think it's kind of silly to base
Speaker 6: your evaluation of Tyson Beagent on his first performance, because
Speaker 6: you're talking about trying to protect against Max Crosby. You're
Speaker 6: trying to protect against multiple level blitzers from the inside.
Speaker 6: So now you get an efiicient seventeen yard screen to
Speaker 6: Deontay Foreman, you get a nice screen over to Marcedes Lewis,
Speaker 6: you get another touchdown pass to Deontay Foreman that he's
Speaker 6: able to score in the red zone. Listen, I'm not
Speaker 6: looking for eighty yard bombs. I'm looking for first downs.
Speaker 6: And we talk about this all the time, Jeff, whether
Speaker 6: it's the running game or the passing game. Just have
Speaker 6: that nine extra minutes of time of possession that you
Speaker 6: did score when you get into the red zone, and
Speaker 6: it's all a part of a success story.
Speaker 4: To me.
Speaker 1: Thing can be more maddening for a defense than a
Speaker 1: fifteen play drive where they just slowly move the ball
Speaker 1: down the field, get in chunks and eat up the
Speaker 1: time of possession and they can't stop it. And that's
Speaker 1: what happened against the Raiders on three occasions. And as
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman, doesn't that give you more energy to
Speaker 1: have a drive. You would think it tires out an
Speaker 1: offense as well as a defense, And maybe it does.
Speaker 1: You tell me, these long drives, you know, more mistakes
Speaker 1: can happen, obviously with more fights at the apple. But
Speaker 1: in the end, I seem to think an offensive line
Speaker 1: would get lathered up and feel good about it.
Speaker 6: Well, you're kind of answering your own question without asking
Speaker 6: a question. They have one hundred and seventy three yards rushing.
Speaker 6: They have these exterior jets, sweeps and passes to the outside.
Speaker 6: Now even take these rotating defensive tackles, and you make
Speaker 6: those guys run from hashmark to sideline or center field
Speaker 6: to sideline, and now all sudden, by the third quarter,
Speaker 6: they're tired coming back onto the field. You have another
Speaker 6: one those double digit drives, and they are standing with
Speaker 6: their hands on their hips in the huddle and they
Speaker 6: are exhausted. So I listen man. I was super impressed
Speaker 6: by the imaginativeness of Luke Getzi and the game plan
Speaker 6: he put together for the Raiders.
Speaker 1: Which leads us to our conversation with Pro Football Hall
Speaker 1: of Famer Dan Fouts. Fouts joined us from his home
Speaker 1: in Oregon for a good half hour, talking about all things,
Speaker 1: including president and past offensive systems in the NFL, and
Speaker 1: a bunch of other great stories. Hope you enjoy it
Speaker 1: all right, Welcome to Everybody to Our Bears, Etc. Podcast.
Speaker 1: Our special guest this week, Hall of Fame quarterback Dan Fouts,
Speaker 1: a legendary figure for the San Diego now LA Chargers,
Speaker 1: with Tom Dayraim, Jeff Jonie. Good to have you alongside
Speaker 1: and Dan. We're coming up with ideas for this week's show.
Speaker 1: And first thing Tom said, Gosh is the very way
Speaker 1: to get ahold of Dan Fouts because he got old
Speaker 1: of Doug Williams's old buddy from the USFL And that
Speaker 1: was a wonderful conversation, and I know we're gonna have
Speaker 1: a wonderful one with you. I look to see if
Speaker 1: you guys have ever crossed pass in that eighty five season,
Speaker 1: and you did not.
Speaker 6: I think we did play him in a couple of
Speaker 6: years later because I became friends with Ed White, one
Speaker 6: of his offensive linemen, through my friendship with Jim Lche,
Speaker 6: who was one of their offensive tackles. I think I
Speaker 6: was on the field one saying hi to Dan Fouts
Speaker 6: and got yelled at by Coriel for coming over and
Speaker 6: saying hi.
Speaker 3: You know, it was like fratnizing with the enemy or something.
Speaker 5: Well, he hated every team and everybody associated with the
Speaker 5: team that we were playing, he would work himself up
Speaker 5: into a ladder and we found it quite humorous at times.
Speaker 5: But he was just so focused and his hatred is
Speaker 5: what really drove him a lot.
Speaker 6: So when you look at the offenses of today and
Speaker 6: you look what you guys were doing back in the day,
Speaker 6: I mean it was the most high powered offense on
Speaker 6: the NFL market.
Speaker 3: At that time.
Speaker 6: Is that offense transferable to the modern day NFL?
Speaker 3: The RPOs and that style of game.
Speaker 5: I think it has more of an influence on coaches
Speaker 5: and their willingness to throw the ball.
Speaker 4: The example that was set.
Speaker 5: By the air coriol offenses, where you know, it's easier
Speaker 5: to pick up eight yards throwing the ball and it
Speaker 5: is running the ball unless you got Walter Payton. But
Speaker 5: you know, the thing was is that I always like
Speaker 5: to go back to Don Shula and when they won
Speaker 5: the Super Bowl with their tremendous season that they had.
Speaker 5: When they went undefeated in that Super Bowl, I think
Speaker 5: Greasy threw like eleven passes. So you pass forward maybe
Speaker 5: ten years from there to where now Shula drafts Dan
Speaker 5: Marino and Marino's throwing.
Speaker 4: For five thousand yards.
Speaker 5: So here you've got a coach who relied on Zanka
Speaker 5: and kick and Mercury.
Speaker 4: Morris to run the ball.
Speaker 5: But he saw the effect that our offenses had on
Speaker 5: the league in a couple of great games against his
Speaker 5: defenses and his teams. Now he's got a great quarterback
Speaker 5: of Marino. He's willing to throw the ball, and now
Speaker 5: everybody's willing to throw the ball.
Speaker 1: Dan, you touched on Walter Payton. You touched on Don Shula.
Speaker 1: Tom had the rare I guess you'd call it the
Speaker 1: rare hat trick. He played for George Allen in the USFL,
Speaker 1: Don Shula in the NFL, and Mike Ditkin in the NFL.
Speaker 1: All hall of famers and just incredible coaching, and you
Speaker 1: had Don Corielle. But also go into the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame with the following your Hall of Fame class in
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety three, Walter Payton, it was Bill Walsh, who
Speaker 1: was also a coach of yours, the great Chuck Noll
Speaker 1: and one of the best offensive linemen in NFL history,
Speaker 1: and Larry Little. What a Hall of Fame class. What
Speaker 1: do you remember about that day in the mingling with
Speaker 1: that class, Well.
Speaker 5: It's the most humbling experience you can imagine to be
Speaker 5: a member of the Hall of Fame and to go
Speaker 5: in with that class.
Speaker 4: When they hall turned fifty back.
Speaker 5: A couple of years ago, about ten or twelve years
Speaker 5: ago or so, actually it was ten years ago, they
Speaker 5: had a vote on what was the best Hall of
Speaker 5: Fame class of all time excluding the very first class,
Speaker 5: which you know Jim Thorpe and Red Grange and Bronkolndgirski
Speaker 5: and all those George Hollis and all those great people.
Speaker 5: But it was the other forty nine classes that they ranked,
Speaker 5: And surprisingly enough, they ranked the class of ninety three,
Speaker 5: the fellas you just mentioned as the number one class.
Speaker 5: So Larry Little and I always when we see each
Speaker 5: other in canon, which is every year we go back,
Speaker 5: we just raise one finger.
Speaker 1: I love it. What impacted you about this year getting
Speaker 1: your coach in there, a guy just so synonymous with
Speaker 1: great offense, and his induction into the Hall of Fame,
Speaker 1: it all came full circle for you?
Speaker 5: Well, I really did. I mean, I owed Don Coriel everything.
Speaker 5: I mean, you guys wouldn't be talking to me now
Speaker 5: if he never was hired by the Chargers and gave
Speaker 5: us such great offense to work with and great players
Speaker 5: to play with. I'm a selector on the Hall of
Speaker 5: Fame committee, and so I've been beating that drum for
Speaker 5: as long as I've been on that committee. And finally
Speaker 5: I got smart and I told the other selectors, don't
Speaker 5: listen to my.
Speaker 4: Opinion about Don Coriel.
Speaker 5: Listen to the men you've already put in to the
Speaker 5: Hall of Fame. So I had quotes from Don Shula,
Speaker 5: I had quotes from Tom Landry, and I had quotes
Speaker 5: from John Madden. But what I also did is I
Speaker 5: found a letter in my desk about six months before
Speaker 5: the meeting, and it was a letter that Bill Walsh
Speaker 5: had handwritten to Don Coriel, and it was just sitting
Speaker 5: in my desk, and Bill had sent me a copy
Speaker 5: because he wanted me to know what how he felt
Speaker 5: about Coriole. And in the letter, I mean, it was
Speaker 5: just remarkable that what he said that he learned more
Speaker 5: just watching Coriel's offenses than he learned from all other
Speaker 5: coaches that he worked with combined. Well, that's a pretty
Speaker 5: big statement when you consider he worked for Paul Brown.
Speaker 5: So that letter and those quotes from those other great
Speaker 5: coaches that are all in the Hall of Fame I really,
Speaker 5: I think helped Coriol's cause because prior to that, he'd
Speaker 5: been a finalist six times. Six times had to go
Speaker 5: to the family and said I'm sorry he didn't make
Speaker 5: it this time.
Speaker 4: This time I got to say he did.
Speaker 6: I was reading a lot of articles about you overnight,
Speaker 6: and it seemed like every article started Dan struggled the
Speaker 6: first couple of years of his NFL career.
Speaker 7: Is that true? Did you struggle? And then number two?
Speaker 7: What was the turning point? And I almost looking for
Speaker 7: advice about what you would tell young quarterbacks up today,
Speaker 7: What was your turn point to a Hall of Fame career?
Speaker 4: Well, Tom, my first five years were you know.
Speaker 5: I was already fitting myself for a white belt and
Speaker 5: white shoes in a gold century twenty one jacket because
Speaker 5: I was going to be out of.
Speaker 4: Football at a big hurry.
Speaker 5: I had had four head coaches and five different offensive
Speaker 5: coordinators in those first five years, so that part.
Speaker 4: Of it was a little difficult.
Speaker 5: One of the coordinators, though, was Bill Walsh, and I
Speaker 5: only had him for one year and then he went
Speaker 5: to Stamford and then the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: But once once, you.
Speaker 5: Know, we played bad enough to and I played bad
Speaker 5: enough to get Tommy Prothrow fired. That Don Coriell was
Speaker 5: just sitting at his home in San Diego having been
Speaker 5: fired by the Saint Louis Cardinals the year before, and
Speaker 5: he wasn't doing anything except, you know, collecting his paycheck.
Speaker 5: But the Chargers were smart enough to pluck him and
Speaker 5: put him as our head coach. And that is the
Speaker 5: turning point. Four games into my sixth year in the NFL,
Speaker 5: at nine wonderful seasons with coriol And again that's why
Speaker 5: you know I'm in the Hall of Fame.
Speaker 4: And I'm talking to you guys this morning when you.
Speaker 6: Look at the quarterbacks up today, because Jeff and I
Speaker 6: have been doing the Bears games now for twenty seven years,
Speaker 6: so we kind of pay attention to the draft, pay
Speaker 6: attention to the lineage. But guys like yourself and then
Speaker 6: I came out in the eighty three draft with Marino
Speaker 6: and that crew. And then you look at the Peyton
Speaker 6: mannings and you look at Tom Brady's do you think
Speaker 6: four years of college benefited you rather than if you
Speaker 6: are a modern day quarterback, you might have been out
Speaker 6: of college after two or after three years.
Speaker 5: There's no question, and I think you know, the college
Speaker 5: experience is so unique. It's where you've really become independent.
Speaker 5: It's where you become a man, if you will. And
Speaker 5: at least that's the way I looked at it. I
Speaker 5: had a great time at the University of Oregon. I
Speaker 5: learned a lot, both academic and athletically. But you're absolutely
Speaker 5: right when you talk about the experience of going into
Speaker 5: the NFL. And one of the problems with some of
Speaker 5: these young quarterbacks that are so good in college, they're
Speaker 5: so good in high school, but now they're being drafted
Speaker 5: by teams that aren't so good because they need a quarterback.
Speaker 5: But my question for so many of them is how
Speaker 5: do you handle failure? Because you haven't failed, You've been
Speaker 5: a success, you're number one pick, blah blah blah, and
Speaker 5: here you're now you're going to a team that won
Speaker 5: two games a year before and is in disarray because
Speaker 5: they need you. So it's you know, it's tough, but
Speaker 5: you know, I think staying in school experience that part
Speaker 5: of life and then experiencing some failures and not always
Speaker 5: being the best player, learning how to be the best player,
Speaker 5: learning how to handle the wins and the losses.
Speaker 1: Dan Founts our guest here on Bears, Etc. Our weekly podcast,
Speaker 1: We Get Ready for the Bears in Chargers Sunday Night
Speaker 1: Football in LA's Sofi Stadium. We're brought to you by
Speaker 1: Miller Lite, the official beer of the Chicago Bears. Tastes
Speaker 1: like Miller Time Chicago in that vein. You know Tom
Speaker 1: and I and I'm totally agree with Tom on this
Speaker 1: and yourself Dan with the experience factor, So we only
Speaker 1: look at what our little bubble here at Hallis Hall
Speaker 1: is right now. And because of injury, Justin Fields could
Speaker 1: not play last week. So Tyson Bagin, an undrafted rookie
Speaker 1: out of tiny Shepherd University in West Virginia, gets the
Speaker 1: call and leads the Bears to their most balanced game
Speaker 1: of the season. They checked every box and situational football
Speaker 1: that you can imagine, and all that without throwing a
Speaker 1: pass longer than twenty yards in the game. And so
Speaker 1: but he had fifty three games of experience in college.
Speaker 1: He is very poised. He comes out there and just
Speaker 1: does his thing by way of the short passing game.
Speaker 1: I don't know if you read about this game or
Speaker 1: saw him play at all, but this is quite a
Speaker 1: story growing right now with an undrafted free agent in
Speaker 1: his first NFL start leading a game against the Raiders.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I think you know, you want to build confidence, okay,
Speaker 5: and you want to build on that success of the
Speaker 5: short passing game and it works. Bill Walsh made it
Speaker 5: very famous. The West Coast offense is basically a you know,
Speaker 5: horizontal sideline to sideline with an occasional deep throat to
Speaker 5: Jerry Rice for Tom Taylor which worked out pretty good too,
Speaker 5: and having great quarterbacks like Montana and Young. So, you know,
Speaker 5: I think that what the Bears did against the Raiders
Speaker 5: was smart. Obviously the results were exactly what you would
Speaker 5: hope for, but surprisingly so I'm sure because.
Speaker 4: Nobody really knew how the kid would perform.
Speaker 6: Well, you know, then I think about what Justin Herbert's
Speaker 6: going through when you look at the oh if they
Speaker 6: got a defensive minded head coach Dan and you you
Speaker 6: developed under an offensive minded head coach, do you think
Speaker 6: there's a better relationship if you have an offensive minded
Speaker 6: head coach that is calling the plays or spearheads the
Speaker 6: direction of the offense, i e. A Bill Walsh type
Speaker 6: of guy, or can a quarterback succeed if there is
Speaker 6: that change over if an offensive coordinator is successful at
Speaker 6: the quarterback, he's going to get the next head coaching job.
Speaker 5: I think that the offensive coordinators is more important than
Speaker 5: the head coach basically for a quarterback, because he's the
Speaker 5: guy he's talking to all the time and putting the
Speaker 5: game plan together and all those things.
Speaker 4: In Herbert's case, if you look back at his.
Speaker 5: Career at Oregon and he was there for five years,
Speaker 5: he had three different head coaches, and he had different
Speaker 5: offensive coordinators. And now with the Chargers, Kellen Moore is
Speaker 5: now their offensive coordinator. Well, that's like the fourth offensive
Speaker 5: coordinator and new offense that Herbert's had to deal with.
Speaker 5: He's a brilliant kid. I mean, he's as smart as
Speaker 5: a whip, and you know he can handle it. But
Speaker 5: the problems aren't on the offense with the charges right now.
Speaker 5: They're on the defense and their ability to stop people
Speaker 5: and put people away. But it is a team game,
Speaker 5: and I think that last week against Kansas City, the
Speaker 5: defense was horrible in the first half but great in
Speaker 5: the second half, and the offense was great in the
Speaker 5: first half and.
Speaker 4: Horrible in the second half. They couldn't put it together
Speaker 4: or they might have upset the Chiefs.
Speaker 6: In the Miami game backed up by the Cincinnati game.
Speaker 6: There's a degree difference of one hundred and forty seven
Speaker 6: degrees from the Miami game at eighty eight degrees to
Speaker 6: the minus fifty nine game in Cincinnati.
Speaker 3: Have you ever been as cold as you were in.
Speaker 6: Cincinnati or have you ever been as exhausted as you
Speaker 6: were in Miami?
Speaker 4: Get this question a lot.
Speaker 5: There was a major shrinkage in Cincinnati and a lot
Speaker 5: of exhaustion and cramps in Miami.
Speaker 4: But you know that's that's the game, though, right, You
Speaker 4: got to play with the elements whatever they are. And
Speaker 4: you know, I tipped my hat to Kenny Anderson and
Speaker 4: the Bengals on that cold day in Cincinnati because he
Speaker 4: played great and I did not.
Speaker 1: But you did play very well when you met the
Speaker 1: Bears on December fourth, and it was a Monday night
Speaker 1: match up forty to seven win over Neil Armstrong's Bears.
Speaker 1: Virgil Livers did have a sixty yard interception return for
Speaker 1: a touchdown, but you hit John Jefferson forty two yards.
Speaker 1: Do you remember anything about that game that time ago,
Speaker 1: back in nineteen seventy eight.
Speaker 5: Yeah, I remember that game very well because that's right
Speaker 5: where we felt that Eric Coriel was taking off. We
Speaker 5: had played the Seahawks the week before and put thirty
Speaker 5: seven on them.
Speaker 4: Now we come and we beat the Bears. We put
Speaker 4: forty points there.
Speaker 5: Then we end the season in Houston and I think
Speaker 5: we put forty five on the Oilers at the time.
Speaker 5: So that was the last three games of the year
Speaker 5: and they were all tremendous scoring games for us. We
Speaker 5: knew that we really had something going into the following seasons. So, yeah,
Speaker 5: thanks for bringing that memory up for me.
Speaker 1: That's a good one.
Speaker 4: And yeah, yeah, better than Tom. You know that Freezer game.
Speaker 1: Hey, you know, Tom and I talk about this all
Speaker 1: the time too, because Tom's had two careers. He played
Speaker 1: for ten eleven years in the National Football League and
Speaker 1: he's three decades deep here into a broadcasting career. You
Speaker 1: did the same, the son of a famous broadcaster in
Speaker 1: the Bay Area, and was your father the voice of
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers for a time as well. I
Speaker 1: know he was a legendary figure in that area. And
Speaker 1: how do you feel about having two careers associated with
Speaker 1: this great game?
Speaker 5: Yeah, my dad was the play by play announcer of
Speaker 5: the forty nine ers.
Speaker 4: Back in the.
Speaker 5: Fifties and sixties, and so that gave me an opportunity
Speaker 5: at times to be in the press box sitting next
Speaker 5: to him keeping scores for him. Then I kind of
Speaker 5: grew out of that, and I was a ball boy
Speaker 5: on the sidelines for the forty nine ers. You know,
Speaker 5: look at Johnny and Nidas, or see Gail Sayers and Budkinson.
Speaker 5: I remember George Hallis aid towards the end of his
Speaker 5: career he had a chair at the fifty yard line
Speaker 5: and that's where he sat at least when they played
Speaker 5: the forty nine Ers and Keysart he sat there, and
Speaker 5: we were as ball boys told never ever run in
Speaker 5: front of Coachallice.
Speaker 4: He always had to run behind him.
Speaker 1: That's an awesome story.
Speaker 6: Sofi stadium Chargers being in LA, what do they have
Speaker 6: to do to get a home field advantage, because even
Speaker 6: when the Bears played there against the Rams a couple
Speaker 6: of years ago, it was probably sixty five percent Ram
Speaker 6: or Bears fans. Is it going to be something that
Speaker 6: they're going to have to get into a playoff type
Speaker 6: of push where.
Speaker 3: You know they're they're going to go deep into the playoffs.
Speaker 5: Well, that's a really a good question, Tom, because it's
Speaker 5: the Rams, the Chargers, and the Raiders that all have
Speaker 5: this problem now because people want to go to Vegas
Speaker 5: to watch the Raiders play and their home team, and
Speaker 5: they also want to go to shows, and people from
Speaker 5: back east in the Midwest George, December November, they want
Speaker 5: to go to LA because the weather's great, there's a
Speaker 5: lot of good things to do in LA, and they
Speaker 5: want to watch their team. Because a lot of teams
Speaker 5: back where you are sold out. Fans can't go to
Speaker 5: those games, but they can afford a plane ticket maybe
Speaker 5: get to LA, get to Vegas and go crazy. But
Speaker 5: you're right, it is a major problem the Chargers and
Speaker 5: the Rams. You watch them on offense, they're using a
Speaker 5: silent count because their quarterback at home can't be heard
Speaker 5: over the crowd noise made.
Speaker 4: By the opposing fans.
Speaker 5: So you know, if it takes a playoff, Bush, maybe,
Speaker 5: but remember it is Los Angeles and it is Las Vegas.
Speaker 5: There's a lot of distractions in both those places.
Speaker 6: Dan, did you run a lot of shotgun offense back
Speaker 6: then or where you directly behind center? Because you know,
Speaker 6: there's so many differences in the count nowadays because of
Speaker 6: the RPO because of the motion, because of where they
Speaker 6: line up in the different offensive formations.
Speaker 4: Now, we never used the shotgun.
Speaker 5: Our offense was based on timing routes that were tied
Speaker 5: to my drop, to the receiver's depth on his routes.
Speaker 5: You know, three step drop was a quick pass, five
Speaker 5: step was a medium, seven step was a little bit deeper.
Speaker 5: And the other thing was is that although I did
Speaker 5: fumble once in a while, from under center, I could
Speaker 5: keep my eyes downfield. I could keep my eyes and
Speaker 5: look around and read defenses. As I'm under center in
Speaker 5: the shotgun, a quarterback, he'd better be looking at that
Speaker 5: ball because you never know when that center is going
Speaker 5: to snap it. And you see, you know, at times,
Speaker 5: a bad snap or a bad catch and it's a
Speaker 5: seven eight yard loss all of a sudden. But I
Speaker 5: always liked being under center because you know, I could
Speaker 5: tell when those linebackers were coming dom their eyes are
Speaker 5: bugging out of their helmets and the toonement at the
Speaker 5: mouth and everything.
Speaker 1: All right, Our remaining moments with Dan Foutz, the Pro
Speaker 1: Football Hall of Famer and a remember the nineteen eighties
Speaker 1: All Decade team of the National Football League led the
Speaker 1: league four consecutive years in passing Hue time first team
Speaker 1: All Pro, six time Pro Bowler, Offensive Player of the
Speaker 1: Year in nineteen eighty two. All this by a third
Speaker 1: round pick out of Oregon in nineteen seventy three to
Speaker 1: sixty fourth pick of the NFL draft. You mentioned how
Speaker 1: detailed and I don't know, maybe I'm assuming complicated the
Speaker 1: coreol Air coriol offense was, and.
Speaker 3: I don't know.
Speaker 1: Today we often hear the playbooks, you know, two years
Speaker 1: in they haven't even touched the surface of getting to
Speaker 1: know the details and the concepts in the passing game
Speaker 1: of the offenses of today, and we often think maybe
Speaker 1: it's too complicated to usher in these inexperienced quarterbacks that
Speaker 1: come in with so much success, as we alluded to earlier,
Speaker 1: and then you know, the expectation is year two, you
Speaker 1: got to be greater. You know, we're moving on to
Speaker 1: the next guy. Like the head coaches in this league,
Speaker 1: was it super complicated and do you think it should
Speaker 1: be less complicated today?
Speaker 5: Well, it was not super complicated because there was a
Speaker 5: basis of the offense when Coriel first got there, but
Speaker 5: each game and each season we would add to it.
Speaker 5: But we always had that foundation to go back to
Speaker 5: if we were struggling. So you know, we'd come out
Speaker 5: run the same play four different ways, four different formations,
Speaker 5: but it was the same play. We would just ask
Speaker 5: a guy, you know, like a Winslow, Hey, go out
Speaker 5: wide and let's see who covers you.
Speaker 4: Okay. That was the beauty of Coriolis. He could see
Speaker 4: and he would study.
Speaker 5: A guy's past, a guy like Little Trained James, Lionel
Speaker 5: James was a quarterback in high school and he could
Speaker 5: throw the ball, and so we would put in half
Speaker 5: back passes for little train Kellen Winslow. He can throw
Speaker 5: a ball one hundred yards, so we throw, you know,
Speaker 5: have a double pass for him to throw the ball.
Speaker 5: Pete Holahan was a quarterback at Notre Dame with Joe Montana.
Speaker 5: Montana of course beat him out, and Halahan went to
Speaker 5: tight end a wide.
Speaker 4: Receiver, but he could still throw these things. He would research,
Speaker 4: as Coriel did find out. You know, this guy was
Speaker 4: an option quarterback, so let's run an option with him.
Speaker 5: Not without spouts, can't do that. So anyway, that was
Speaker 5: the beauty of Don Coriel.
Speaker 1: So you're on the Hall of Fame selection committee. Devin
Speaker 1: Hester is a semifinalist range. Again, how do you feel
Speaker 1: about Devin Hester and the Hall of Fame giving it
Speaker 1: the uniqueness of being a return man first and foremost.
Speaker 5: I think it's about time because he was the best,
Speaker 5: and you know, one of those guys that you hold
Speaker 5: your breath. I'm sure you guys did every time he
Speaker 5: was back deep to return something because you were about
Speaker 5: to see something special. And so you know, the word
Speaker 5: special teams is starting to get a little bit more
Speaker 5: more weight to it when it comes to voting. And
Speaker 5: as I said, Hester was the best. I think it's
Speaker 5: about time.
Speaker 3: You know, Dan, My last question kind of goes to college.
Speaker 6: You got USC, you have Oregon, you have Washington with
Speaker 6: three dynamic quarterbacks. I know you're an Oregon alone, but
Speaker 6: do you see any one of those three guys that
Speaker 6: you like and that you think could maybe be at
Speaker 6: the top of the draft next year?
Speaker 4: Yeah, I think I think they'll all be number one picks.
Speaker 5: Williams obviously won the Heisman last year and they've been
Speaker 5: struggling a little bit this year, but he's a very
Speaker 5: talented guy. Pinnix from Washington is very accurate. You know,
Speaker 5: he's left handed, so it looks a little bit different,
Speaker 5: but not when the receiver catches the ball. And with
Speaker 5: both Nicks you've got kind of a mixture of those two.
Speaker 4: He's extremely accurate.
Speaker 5: As you can see, he's completing almost eighty percent of
Speaker 5: his passes. He's a smart kid. He's played more games
Speaker 5: than any other player in college football, I think, I mean,
Speaker 5: I know as a quarterback he may have. He's played
Speaker 5: like fifty four games, started at at Auburn and then
Speaker 5: transferred to Oregon, and so he's got that experience that
Speaker 5: we were talking about at you know, a couple of
Speaker 5: minutes ago, where you stay in college and you learn,
Speaker 5: you know, the ups and downs of colleges.
Speaker 4: Bo Nicks has done that. But I like all three
Speaker 4: of those quarterbacks. I think they're all outstanding.
Speaker 1: What do you think of Justin We haven't talked about him.
Speaker 5: Well, you know, I think that again. I think he's
Speaker 5: a guy that's got a lot of talent. But it's
Speaker 5: gonna take some time. You know, running quarterbacks, guys that
Speaker 5: expose themselves, you know you're gonna I always look at
Speaker 5: it like a quarterback's kind of a gunfighter. You're gonna
Speaker 5: you know, you're gonna win some you're gonna lose some
Speaker 5: you're gonna get, you know, nicked every now and then
Speaker 5: a bullet's gonna catch you. But if you look at
Speaker 5: who wins Super Bowls aside from Patrick Mahomes, they're basically
Speaker 5: drop back pocket type of passers. I'm thinking of Tom
Speaker 5: Brady and a Peyton Manning and guys like that. So
Speaker 5: I would you know, it worries me when a quarterback
Speaker 5: runs too much because you're exposed to professional tacklers and
Speaker 5: guys that are coming with bad intentions.
Speaker 1: All right, Well, this was wonderful. We could literally talk
Speaker 1: for hours with you because you got a great depth
Speaker 1: of knowledge and wonderful. Loved watching you play in those
Speaker 1: exciting Chargers teams. Somebody who grew up admiring John Brody.
Speaker 1: I liked him from Afar as well. And then you
Speaker 1: get drafted and you're with Johnny Unitis. That's nuts. What
Speaker 1: a career you've had. Dan, thank you so much.
Speaker 5: Well, let me just tell you one Unitis and one
Speaker 5: Brody's story. Get out as a ball boy.
Speaker 4: For the forty nine ers.
Speaker 5: But I was always on that point of sideline and
Speaker 5: I at the end of the game, he goes out
Speaker 5: to shake Brodie's hands, and John Brody has his helmet
Speaker 5: on and Johnny Unitas does not, and they're walking off
Speaker 5: the field and Brody tells Unitas, Hey, John, if.
Speaker 4: You're walking off the field with me, you better put
Speaker 4: your helmet on.
Speaker 1: That's awesome. And did you ever introduce yourself to mister Hallis?
Speaker 4: No, I never did.
Speaker 5: I regret that I never got to say hello to
Speaker 5: him and really tell him thank you, because it's men
Speaker 5: like George Hollis that built the game.
Speaker 1: Surely that is the case. Wonderful to talk to you.
Speaker 1: Congratulations on all your success, and we love that you're
Speaker 1: still heavily involved with pro football with the Hall of
Speaker 1: Fame Committee. And enjoyed talking to you very much.
Speaker 4: Thank you, Thanks, thanks for having me on. Guys, talk later,
Speaker 4: good luck.
Speaker 3: All right, good luck.
Speaker 1: Thanks. You talk about a Hall of Fame quarterback. You
Speaker 1: had two hundred and fifty four touchdown passes, and now
Speaker 1: today you know you really are concerned about interceptions and
Speaker 1: you want complete completion percentages, hopefully in the upper sixties.
Speaker 1: His career percentage and that was fifty nine percent. He
Speaker 1: threw for two hundred and forty two interceptions, so you know,
Speaker 1: things were different then. Obviously, no one wants to make
Speaker 1: mistakes or give the ball back to the imposition. But
Speaker 1: he won games, and he was an outstanding leader, and
Speaker 1: he made it to the Hall of Fame as a
Speaker 1: third round pick.
Speaker 6: It's pretty cool, right, third round pick is amazing. And
Speaker 6: you know, Ed White want to help his offensive lineman.
Speaker 6: He's a sculptor and I have a series of his
Speaker 6: sculptors that he gave me that are hippos that are
Speaker 6: doing different things, lifting weights and stuff.
Speaker 3: And he also used to make the John Madden trophies.
Speaker 1: Wow.
Speaker 6: So yeah, this guy is an incredible guy. And I
Speaker 6: got to meet him through mutual friends and we went
Speaker 6: on a sailboat a couple times, and so it would
Speaker 6: have been fun to even pick his brain about DONNYE. Masakis, center,
Speaker 6: Ed Whyte, and just some of the other guys he
Speaker 6: played with.
Speaker 1: For all your journeys ahead, go with a partner who's
Speaker 1: been on your team from the beginning, the one members
Speaker 1: and communities have trusted for over eighty five years. Blue
Speaker 1: Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois, always standing by you,
Speaker 1: with you, for you through it all. All Right, let's
Speaker 1: dig into the Chargers matchup. They're coming off back to
Speaker 1: back losses. You know what that means, a third straight loss,
Speaker 1: and everybody goes into panic. This is considered to be
Speaker 1: a really good playoff caliber football team in terms of
Speaker 1: some of the stars they have on both sides of
Speaker 1: the ball, and not the least of which is their quarterback,
Speaker 1: Justin Herbert. Let's start there. What do you think of
Speaker 1: what you've seen on tape for this just twenty five
Speaker 1: year old quarterback who's got a two hundred and sixty
Speaker 1: two million dollar contract.
Speaker 6: You know, super competitive, he's a great athlete. He's a
Speaker 6: big guy. He can take punishment, he can deliver it.
Speaker 6: He's got a Josh Allen type fasik. He can incorporate
Speaker 6: receivers from fifty yards downfield to at the line of scrimmage.
Speaker 6: He's got an offense that's got a lot of versatility
Speaker 6: built in it. The only thing is about the Chargers
Speaker 6: of some time, everybody sits there and waits for Justin
Speaker 6: Herbert to make the big play, and when he tries
Speaker 6: too hard to make the big play, sometimes that's when
Speaker 6: he presents an opportunity for the opponent's offense the opponent's defense.
Speaker 1: There's also a talian I think probably too losing Mike Williams.
Speaker 1: He suffered us he's in any knee injury in week three,
Speaker 1: and so they have had less success since that point,
Speaker 1: even though they have one of and now he's a
Speaker 1: veteran of course, he's been around a while now, but
Speaker 1: Keenan Allen is still a very dangerous player at the
Speaker 1: receiver position. And of course Austin Eckler he missed a
Speaker 1: handful of games due to injury. So he's back, but
Speaker 1: has not been as effective as he was in the
Speaker 1: opener at one hundred and seventeen on sixteen carries against
Speaker 1: Miami and since then just twenty eight carries for seventy
Speaker 1: two yards. But are you more worried about Eckler the
Speaker 1: back or Eckler the receiver.
Speaker 6: I'm glad you asked that question, because to me, he's
Speaker 6: a different version of McCaffrey from San Francisco. When you
Speaker 6: look at Austin Eckler, Jay Jeff, he rarely takes a
Speaker 6: step backward, He rarely takes a lateral step. His vision
Speaker 6: is going forward, and he's going at such a quick
Speaker 6: rate that he makes it real challenging for tacklers because
Speaker 6: he's not a big guy, but he's willing to deliver
Speaker 6: and take punishment. When I look at Austin Eckler, edge
Speaker 6: passes are my main fear of him because I think
Speaker 6: if you can get multiple bodies in his interior path
Speaker 6: in running the ball, you can limit his success. But man,
Speaker 6: if he gets in space on the outside edge, he
Speaker 6: can be gone.
Speaker 1: And another undrafted player, I mean Western State and Colorado
Speaker 1: Austin Eckler. Great story. So two undrafted free agents will
Speaker 1: be grabbing some of the headlines one way or another
Speaker 1: on Sunday night. Take a chance download the bet rivers
Speaker 1: app today. All right, let's flip it over to the
Speaker 1: defensive side of the ball. And Khalil Mack had six
Speaker 1: of his seven sacks in one game against a rookie
Speaker 1: Aidan O'Connell of the Raiders in Week four, still highly regarded.
Speaker 1: They're not playing him on just one side. I always
Speaker 1: felt that Khalil was a very good run stopping edge player,
Speaker 1: and I still maintain that. You may agree or disagree
Speaker 1: with that. And Joey Bosa, so you have two instead
Speaker 1: of one big time edge rusher like Mass Crosby last week.
Speaker 1: Where does the burden lie here? And you just have
Speaker 1: to find out where Mack is every time. Are you're
Speaker 1: more concerned about him or Bosa or both?
Speaker 6: You know, I'm not gonna let either of those guys
Speaker 6: go unblocked or have a free rush. But to me,
Speaker 6: I can never get that Raiders game in London out
Speaker 6: of my head and how they attack Khalil Mack.
Speaker 3: So you know, I think one thing.
Speaker 6: That was a little bit of concern was that cole
Speaker 6: Comet wasn't targeted, but he did a great job on
Speaker 6: the offensive line being more than a chipper with the tackle.
Speaker 6: So if you have a guy like Carrie blasting game
Speaker 6: a cole Comet the offensive tackle position, that they can
Speaker 6: get physical with Khalil Mack, I think you can take
Speaker 6: a toll on him and then having productive run yards
Speaker 6: at him.
Speaker 3: The thing about it, though, is is that you can't let.
Speaker 6: Just Bosa run up field and chase from behind because
Speaker 6: he's got recognition, athleticism and he can close the distance quickly.
Speaker 6: So I need to win the point of attack battle
Speaker 6: at Khalil Mack and then get up field before Bosa
Speaker 6: can come in and interfere.
Speaker 1: And he's still one of the best guys at force
Speaker 1: and Fombos. Those strip sacks for Khalil Mack add up interesting.
Speaker 1: Why not use a jumbo offensive line, add another offensive
Speaker 1: lineman attacker if you're going to go big and use
Speaker 1: that to try and slow down Mac and Bosa and
Speaker 1: get Cole more involved in patterns not just blocking.
Speaker 6: Well, they just have it yet, so I don't think
Speaker 6: unless they insert it this week and they try to
Speaker 6: get it in a couple times per game, then they
Speaker 6: can use it. But if you look at the tight
Speaker 6: end position, you look at Marcedes Lewis, and you look
Speaker 6: at Cole Kmet, and you look at Robert Tanyan, all
Speaker 6: these guys can. But if they're just a chipper and go,
Speaker 6: then all of a sudden, if the linebacker or the
Speaker 6: safety starts losing sight of these guys and then you
Speaker 6: get a couple of eight nine seven yard passes for
Speaker 6: Coal and the crew, then you're talking about productive yards
Speaker 6: and hopefully that convert the first downs.
Speaker 1: Hey Bears fans want to me to Bears legend, then
Speaker 1: head to the Verizon store at three seventy five East
Speaker 1: Palatine Road in Arlington Heights this Saturday, October twenty eighth,
Speaker 1: between twelve and four from meet and greet, food, fun, games,
Speaker 1: and more. Get ready for an unforgettable day with a
Speaker 1: favorite Bears player. I know who it is, now who
Speaker 1: Matt Forte? Oh, one of the all.
Speaker 6: Time legends and the greats and one of the nicest
Speaker 6: guys we've ever come across in our time with the Bears.
Speaker 6: And you know you go get inspired by how good
Speaker 6: in shape that that guy still.
Speaker 8: Is at this stage of his afterlife. He sure is
Speaker 8: the afterlife of football. Yes, one of the more my
Speaker 8: definition professional player, professional NFL players I have ever come across,
Speaker 8: that is for sure.
Speaker 1: So you'll get to meet that one right there. Matt Forte.
Speaker 6: Bring you twenty two Jersey, get him to sign it,
Speaker 6: take a backer with them, and you have it for perpetuity.
Speaker 1: Tom. You know he took the podium Wednesday, don't you.
Speaker 1: It's an annual. It's just an annual. It's no more
Speaker 1: than that. Tony Medlin.
Speaker 3: Yes, I was going to make sure you brought it out.
Speaker 1: Head equipment manager. I think what you say. Thirty two years,
Speaker 1: thirty five years of the coach Drive. This one extends
Speaker 1: into February. So juel Osco and the Salvation Army partnering
Speaker 1: on this with the Bears, and it's always a major
Speaker 1: important thing, Tony. It's a labor of love to befronting this.
Speaker 1: DJ Moore was the player helping out this year and
Speaker 1: talking about it. So get those coaches, gently used, new,
Speaker 1: whatever whatever you could spare and help out shivering Chicagoans
Speaker 1: this winter. It's always something that it's consistent, you know,
Speaker 1: it's the changing of the seasons when team med gets
Speaker 1: to the podium.
Speaker 6: Listen, I bring coats every year up to Hallis Hall
Speaker 6: and I put in the contribution box up there because
Speaker 6: there's nothing that kills me more on a winter day
Speaker 6: driving downtown and see anybody shivering to death without the
Speaker 6: proper coat to get through the Chicago Winner. So if
Speaker 6: you can fill these boxes with the lightly coats that
Speaker 6: you have sitting in your closet that you haven't put
Speaker 6: on in ten years, bring him to Jewel Osco, bring
Speaker 6: him to wherever you can Salvation Army and feel good
Speaker 6: about the contributions that you're making to warm up somebody
Speaker 6: else's life.
Speaker 1: All right, So you got Bosa, you got Mac, and
Speaker 1: we haven't talked about Derwin James. As we wrap up
Speaker 1: our preview of the LA Chargers, and the Bears on
Speaker 1: Sunday Night Football. We'll have it for you, starting with
Speaker 1: a five o'clock pregame, the kickoff coming up at seven
Speaker 1: point fifteen on Sunday Night. Derwin James, he is the
Speaker 1: prototypical New age safety who basically can be deployed as
Speaker 1: a big nickel dime linebacker. He's a very, very impactful player.
Speaker 1: What is going on though with their defense? They're they're
Speaker 1: ranked poorly in almost every major area.
Speaker 6: Well, you know the thing about it, with other than
Speaker 6: Khalil Mack having that big game of sacks, you know,
Speaker 6: Bosa was injured for a little while Khalil Mack only
Speaker 6: was credited with one tackle last week. They just don't
Speaker 6: have the consistency of fast pressure against the quarterbacks they're
Speaker 6: playing against. So these defensive backs, including Derwin James, can
Speaker 6: jump routes quicker, and Derwin James is only one man.
Speaker 3: So he can only do so much.
Speaker 6: So if you get the creativity by Luke Getsy again
Speaker 6: and you put these guys on the defensive where they're
Speaker 6: either backpedaling in the defensive backfield or the ball is
Speaker 6: out of the hands of Tyson Bage and quickly to
Speaker 6: the exterior you know, I think all defenses would have
Speaker 6: trouble being successful against it. But you know, they put
Speaker 6: a lot of emphasis on their pass rush game in
Speaker 6: La Chargers and it just had doesn't come through like
Speaker 6: they at.
Speaker 1: Hope, Bears, etc. Is brought to you in part by
Speaker 1: PNC Bank, Official Bank of the Bears. Let's talk Bears
Speaker 1: defense to wrap us up here, because it's been really
Speaker 1: good here in the last three four weeks, certainly stopping
Speaker 1: the run, starting to take the ball away. Sacks are increasing.
Speaker 1: They're making things difficult on opposing offenses and to maintain that,
Speaker 1: do you think they've got the momentum to do so?
Speaker 1: And I'm also seeing Gervon Dexter and Zach Pickens picking
Speaker 1: up their play and becoming more impactful in that regard.
Speaker 1: Tremaine Edmonds is making big plays.
Speaker 3: TJ.
Speaker 1: Edward's still one of the top tacklers in the NFL.
Speaker 1: Hoping Jakwan Brisker is going to be okay with whatever
Speaker 1: illness he has and missing practice today because I don't
Speaker 1: say now, I'm not saying he is Derwin James, but
Speaker 1: he can play like that type of player. Line him
Speaker 1: up as a linebacker, blitz him, do what he did
Speaker 1: last week and be very disruptive. I see a lot
Speaker 1: of great things happening as the secondary continues to get healthy.
Speaker 1: It's still not one hundred, Eddie Jackson, still already, Kyler
Speaker 1: Gordon just working his way back. But are you enthusiastic
Speaker 1: and excited about what is going on now that Matt
Speaker 1: Eberflus has taken control of that defense and is making
Speaker 1: all those calls?
Speaker 6: You know, I think Janik and Gotway, DeMarcus Walker, Justin Jones,
Speaker 6: Rashien Green are really good positive influences on the young guys.
Speaker 6: So when you talk about Javon Dexter and you talk
Speaker 6: about Zach Pickens, these guys are playing at a higher
Speaker 6: level as the season winds on because I think there's
Speaker 6: some motivating, some leaders on the defensive line, and then
Speaker 6: I think the linebackers are getting to understand the defensive
Speaker 6: line better. You see a lot more plays made out
Speaker 6: of the linebacker positions, either tackles for loss by Jack Sanborn,
Speaker 6: Johnny on the spot, tackles by t J. Edwards, a
Speaker 6: couple of interceptions or fumbled interception by Tremaine Edmonds. I
Speaker 6: just think that the front, you know, I'm going to
Speaker 6: call it the front eleven because they have a rotating
Speaker 6: defensive line that there's multiple bodies up there. Now, if
Speaker 6: you can keep fresh bodies on the defensive line late
Speaker 6: into the game, that's super challenging to the offenses you're
Speaker 6: playing against in the fatigue that sets in on the
Speaker 6: offensive lineman. But I think you know it's about the
Speaker 6: defensive backs. Kyler Gordon still in there, is playing an
Speaker 6: important role. Like you mentioned Brisker playing all over the
Speaker 6: field last week. Tarik Stevenson, I think he gets better
Speaker 6: with each rep that he gets a chance to play.
Speaker 6: And Jalen Johnson has to come up be coming off
Speaker 6: an all time high. And you know when he got
Speaker 6: the game ball in the locker room from Eberflus, I
Speaker 6: like his humble approach. It wasn't you know, look at
Speaker 6: me type of speech. It was, Hey, you know, thank
Speaker 6: everybody in this room that's been working hard.
Speaker 3: Let's keep going in that direction.
Speaker 6: And I think that's important, just like Deontay Foreman's was
Speaker 6: as well.
Speaker 1: Tom. This is a dynamic offense. This defense is going
Speaker 1: to face though, because you got the dynamic quarterback, one
Speaker 1: of the best in the league, justin Herbert at the
Speaker 1: outstanding running back Austin Eckler, which we touched on, and
Speaker 1: then you got Keenan Allen. So is this the biggest
Speaker 1: test that the faced here in recent weeks? Then, with
Speaker 1: all that, because Justin Jefferson wasn't playing for the Vikings either.
Speaker 3: It is.
Speaker 6: But here's my dark horse contributor. The Bear's crowd. The
Speaker 6: Bear's crowd when the Bears are when San Diego or
Speaker 6: the LA's on offense, the Bear's crowd has to be loud.
Speaker 6: If they can make the offense one half a second
Speaker 6: behind time, that is going to be an incredible advantage
Speaker 6: for the Bears defense. So I expect it to be
Speaker 6: a heavy Bears crowd in Sofi Stadium and they can
Speaker 6: be a major contributor to slowing down, you know, functionable
Speaker 6: offense if you can take the verbal count out of
Speaker 6: Justin Herbert's mouth.
Speaker 1: All right, last thing, we always wrap things up with
Speaker 1: something kind of funny. So I was looking on YouTube,
Speaker 1: couldn't sleep the other night. I saw a preseason Bears
Speaker 1: Packers game at Milwaukee Stadium with everybody on the same sideline.
Speaker 1: It was nineteen sixty nine though, so you were just
Speaker 1: you know, over there and Enjoliet working eight years old. Yeah,
Speaker 1: eight years old, already starting to do push ups and curls. So, uh,
Speaker 1: when the guys warmed up on the sideline. Today they
Speaker 1: do it a little differently, But back then, two players
Speaker 1: basically grabbed each other and bumped themselves into each other,
Speaker 1: you know, shoulder to shoulder with the shoulder pads a
Speaker 1: few times. Right, that doesn't happen anymore? How come and
Speaker 1: why did? Why did they feel they needed to do it?
Speaker 1: Do you have any knowledgyes?
Speaker 6: Yeah, we did it as well, But it's just about
Speaker 6: getting some contact before the first contact against your opponent,
Speaker 6: get a little bit of you know, shake inside, You
Speaker 6: get on your understanding what it's, what you feel, what
Speaker 6: it's going to feel like, whether it's super hot weather
Speaker 6: or cold weather. So you know there's always a couple
Speaker 6: of suff But you know, when we warm up against
Speaker 6: offensive defensive linemen in the end zone before the game,
Speaker 6: we went at a pretty good clip. We went almost
Speaker 6: live and so it was you know, you got your
Speaker 6: four or five reps in the end zone and then
Speaker 6: we ran a couple plays. As an offensive defensive unit,
Speaker 6: you should get a lot of work in that part
Speaker 6: of the warm up.
Speaker 1: I just thought it was kind of funny because I remember,
Speaker 1: you know, it happening obviously growing up watching football, but
Speaker 1: I haven't seen that in a long time. But these
Speaker 1: guys were thutting up each other on the sidelay, they
Speaker 1: were paired off. It was very funny. Anyway. It's always
Speaker 1: that YouTube is dangerous, man. You can go down very
Speaker 1: deep rabbit holes in finding all these old videos of football.
Speaker 1: But I can't get enough of it.
Speaker 3: What can I tell you?
Speaker 6: All right, that's why, that's why you can't go back
Speaker 6: to sleep, because you're watching football at three in.
Speaker 1: The morning, exactly exactly. I got a problem. All right.
Speaker 1: That's gonna wrap up our podcast big time. You nailed
Speaker 1: it again thanks to our special guest, Dan Fonce, the
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame quarterback with the Chargers and coming up
Speaker 1: our next Bears et cetera. Podcast will drop on Tuesday
Speaker 1: morning after we get in late from LA. We will
Speaker 1: knock out that podcast in the review of the Chargers game.
Speaker 1: Stay awake, Tom, stay awake, no sleeping on the plane.
Speaker 1: Thanks for listening, everybody. Please subscribe now to the Chicago
Speaker 1: Bears official app, Apple, Spotify, YouTube, or wherever you get
Speaker 1: your podcast, spear down everybody